Anna Newell Jones's Bio

Anna Newell Jones

At the tail-end of 2009 I was suffocating from the weight of my $23,605.10 in debt. The cycle of over-spending, debt, remorse and guilt had to end. I decided to take drastic action, so I made the decision to stop all non-necessary spending.

On January 1st 2010 my year-long Spending Fast commenced. To keep myself honest and accountable throughout my debt-elimination process I started writing the blog http://www.andthenwesaved.com.

Since the Spending Fast meant spending money on necessities only, bare-bones living went into full-effect.

When I started the Spending Fast my only goal was to try to get rid of my approximately 6k in credit card debt, because I felt that was weighing on me the heaviest. At the end of the year-long Spending Fast (2010-2011) I was amazed that I had managed to pay of $17,911.89 in debt!

Since I still had some debt at the start of 2011, I began the Spending Diet. (A Spending Diet is a modified version of the Spending Fast where I give myself a $100 a month “non-need” allowance. The Spending Diet is waaay harder than the Spending Fast by the way)

It turned out that the Spending Fast and Spending Diet processes had dramatic results. I was (and still am sometimes) in disbelief that it actually worked, that I was able to stick to the strict and sometimes daunting Spending Fast and Spending Diet to make it to this side- the debt-free side!

Now, I continue to write about staying motivated and about living life without all the crap (I'm a natural spender, so I need to keep that in check!). I am also extremely passionate about sharing my experience with others since I've found a way to get (and stay) out of debt that actually works.

In a way, I feel obligated to share what I know because I want you to have a life free from debt too!